


Germ-sitting

by atwas



Series: Call of Cthulhu: New Vegas [2]
Category: Call of Cthulhu: Path of Perdition (Web Series), Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Mentioned Courier, New Vegas AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:23:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28570716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atwas/pseuds/atwas
Summary: Sunil Pandey is a strange man, with an even stranger taste in pets.akaThe four times Sunil asked his friends to watch his pet Nightstalker, and the four chumps who actually agreed to do it.
Series: Call of Cthulhu: New Vegas [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2082231
Kudos: 8





	1. Mason

* * *

"You want me to what?"

"It'll only be for the afternoon. I have a conference with the local chapter of the Followers, and I really can't bring them with me, otherwise I would." Sunil tapped the screen of his Pip-Boy, checking the time.

"Yeah, gee. I wonder why you can't bring it with you."

Sunil ignored Mason's snarking. "Trust me, you're the last person I want to leave them with, but nobody else is available. Please, Mason? A favour, just this once?"

Mason sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "Okay. Fine. Just this once. But if I end up dying because of this animal, you are paying for my funeral. And I expect a huge funeral. Bouquets of roses. The works."

"Yes yes, I'll be sure to hire some professional mourners too, if it happens. Which it won't." Sunil shot Mason a sharp look. "As long as you follow the instructions, you'll be fine. Germ is very docile, and most likely won't bite--"

"--Most likely? You're instilling a whole lot of confidence in me, Sunil--"

"--yes, most likely. You'll be fine. They got fed a few days ago, so you shouldn't need to worry about that. Just don't do anything stupid."

Mason snorted. "Me? Do anything stupid? I mean have you met me, Sunil?"

Sunil regarded Mason with an even gaze.

"Okay, what's with that look?"

"Nothing, nothing." Sunil fished in his pockets for a thin paper print-out, and shoved it into Mason's hands. "Everything you need to know should be here. There's first aid information on the bottom. The New Vegas Clinic is stocked up with plenty of anti-venom, too."

Mason paled slightly. "Right. Anti-venom."

"Mhmm, anti-venom. Anyways, thanks Mason, I owe you one." Before Mason could respond, Sunil put Germ in his arms, and headed off down the corridor of the Lucky 38 at a swift pace.

Mason froze in the doorway of his suite. Germ hissed up at him from his outstretched arms. Mason winced.

"Okay, so your name is Germ then. Please don't bite me."

Germ purred back at him, and licked his hand with a small, forked tongue.

* * *

"Yeah, he just left me with it, and I have no idea what to do." Mason lounged on the couch, his head in Candy's lap. She worked at the Gomorrah, but today was her day off. She ran a hand through his hair.

"You hang with some pretty weird sorts, Mason. I'll give you that."

"Eh. I guess. They're good people though."

"Oh, I'm sure they are. But you'd have to be nuttier than a cazador to try and raise one of _those._ "

They both turned their attention to the cardboard box on the coffee table. A scaly snout popped up over the edge, and a tiny forked tongue flickered in the air. Germ made a happy burbling noise from their nest in the box.

"Yeahhh, that's kind of Sunil in a nutshell," Mason stretched out. "When he first brought Germ back to his suites, he didn't warn anyone before-hand. Instead, I got to be the asshole who dealt with house-keeping busting down my door in a panic about a 'dangerous, poisonous abomination' taking up residence in one of the executive suites. I mean, so far, Miss Cordova's been tolerating it but let me tell you-- I never expected to have to include a 'the extremely dangerous animal is a normal resident, don't worry about it' speech in my new employee orientation spiel."

"I don't know how you deal with it," Candy said, eyeing the cardboard box. "I grew up on a Brahmin ranch and honestly? I've seen exactly what those things can do to an animal three times their size." She shuddered. "No thank you. You can't even use what meat is left over because their poison is so strong."

"They're really that dangerous?" Mason sat up and peered into the box. Germ scrabbled at the side of it with small paws.

"Yeah, they are. I had a customer a little while ago, NCR, who got high as fuck and started rambling about seeing invisible Nightstalkers when she was posted in the mountains out west," Candy laughed. "I had to cut her off after that, she was freaking out the other patrons, but she insisted that there were whole packs of the things roaming the foothills."

Mason quirked a smile. "Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it."

Candy laughed and got up. "Anyways, I'll catch up with you later. I've gotta go run some errands down in Freeside. Good luck with... all this."

Mason sighed. "Thanks, doll. I have a feeling I'll need it."

* * *

Mason checked his watch for probably the twentieth time after the clock hit 5pm. "He's late. He said it was only for the afternoon, but he's late. Only for the afternoon, my ass."

He paced around his suite.

"I had things to do. I had stuff planned!" he lamented. "But no. I'm stuck here watching you, because Sunil had his fuckin' Follower's conference, and his bodyguard is out _somewhere else_ doing god knows fuckin' what. I mean for fuck's sake, the ONE time you'd expect Kit to be hanging around, he isn't."

Mason flopped down on his couch and buried his face in his hands. "Fuckin'..." he trailed off, his gaze falling on the box where Germ had been curled up.

Germ was no longer in the box.

"FUCK."

* * *

After a knock and a pause, Sunil entered what used to be Mason's suite. ‘What used to be’ being the operative term, because currently, it looked like a disaster zone. From what he could tell, every drawer was open and overturned. Every cabinet had its doors flung open. An armchair was upside down. Clothing and bedding was strewn across the floor as though a dust-storm had blown through and kicked everything into what was nothing short of an _advanced_ state of disarray.

In the epicenter of the disarray, was Mason, sitting on the couch. Mason was asleep, and on the table in front of him was an empty bottle of whiskey, and an empty cardboard box.

"Mason?"

Mason started awake, and his finger flew to his mouth. He shushed Sunil, eyes wide.

Sunil nodded slowly and did another once-over of the room, taking in the aforementioned advanced state of disarray. He froze as a realization hit him.

"Mason, where's Germ?"

Mason laughed nervously. "So uh. Funny story..." He trailed off as though he expected Sunil to interrupt him. Instead, he weathered a long and awkward pause as Sunil waited for an explanation, his face carefully arranged in a neutral expression. Mason swallowed. "Yeah. Funny story. But-- Okay, I know this looks bad."

"You're right. It looks very bad."

"Right, yeah. Very bad. Okay, I'll give you that. BUT it looks a lot worse than it actually is."

"And how is that, Mason?"

"Well--"

"Mason. You appear to have lost Germ."

Mason shifted uncomfortably. It was at this point that Sunil noticed that Mason was sitting almost unnaturally still, as though he were pinned to the couch. "I know it looks that way, and I did lose them--"

" _\--You what?--_ "

" _\--temporarily,_ Sunil. Temporarily. It's fine now. The situation is handled. It's all under control, see?"

Sunil took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and mentally counted to five. "I can't say that I do see, Mason."

"Exactly! See, that was the 'funny story' bit that I was getting to! You see... you can't see!"

Sunil steepled his fingers in front of his face. "I can't..? Mason, you've lost me."

Mason held up a finger, and then gestured down at his lap. Sunil looked down at Mason's empty lap, and then looked back up at his face. "Mason. There's nothing there."

"Exactly. And ordinarily you would be correct, but this is no ordinary circumstance. Because apparently," Mason said from behind a pained smile. "Apparently, you've managed to somehow end up with a baby Nightstalker that can turn _fucking invisible._ "

Sunil looked back, and sure enough, he could just barely make out the slight shimmering distortion of a stealth field in Mason's lap.

"Sunil. Please. I’m begging you. I've been stuck here for an hour. I think Germ fell asleep, and I'm legally not allowed to move."

Sunil picked his way through the scattered belongings on the floor, and picked up Germ. The stealth field rippled, and Germ shimmered back into visibility. They yawned, exposing their very small and very sharp fangs. Relieved finally from his duty, Mason practically collapsed into the couch.

"I had no idea, Mason. I'm genuinely sorry."

Mason lifted a hand dismissively. "Don't even start. Don't even worry about it. No big deal, even if Germ was actually asleep in the box the whole time and I turned this whole place upside-down and inside-out for no reason. No trouble at all."

Germ curled up happily in Sunil's arms and flicked their tongue out in Mason's direction. Sunil awkwardly shifted from foot to foot. "Well. Nevertheless, thank you for watching them."

Mason just nodded. "Yep. No problem. Just uh, warn me beforehand if you end up noticing any weird mutations, yeah? I'd rather not be surprised next time."

"Next time?"

“Sure, next time.” Mason shrugged. "What? I like animals."

* * *


	2. Sybil

* * *

Sybil Cordova was a busy woman.

Between managing the Lucky 38 in the Courier's absence, and her constant meetings with the other leadership on the Strip, she wasn't exactly left with a lot of leisure time. Her life was a whirlwind of activity-- a smile here, a gesture there. A thoughtful letter sent here, a tasteful gift there. She was as smooth as any NCR politician, and as savage as any Mojave scavver.

She still remembered the message she received two years ago, calling her out East; calling her out to New Vegas and the opportunities the glitz and glamour of the Strip had to offer.

New Vegas. The Crown Jewel of the Mojave. A sparkling, impossible city nestled in the harsh desert-- with the neon-trimmed spire of the Lucky 38 rising from the sky-line like a beacon. It was pre-war opulence and artifice at its peak. Naturally, she had to accept the invitation. This city was practically built for her, and in turn, she was practically built for it.

Sybil Cordova was a busy woman, but she made a point of never being too busy for the people closest to her. This was why, when her close friend Sunil Pandey asked her if she could watch his pet Nightstalker, she was more than happy to acquiesce.

* * *

"Are you sure, Sybil? I know it's on very short notice, but nobody else is available and I don't exactly trust anyone else with them." Sunil fiddled with the dial on his Pip-Boy, seemingly without realizing he was doing it.

Sybil flashed him a winning smile. "Of course! It's no trouble at all, Sunil. Besides, I'd love to get some hands on experience with my casino's little troublemaker."

Sunil blinked, then searched her face. Her enthusiasm was not reassuring. If anything, it was the exact opposite of reassuring. Nobody in their right mind would be excited about getting “hands on experience” with a highly venomous, genetically modified creature that could also project its own personal stealth field. That is, nobody except himself. But his own interests in Germ were purely scientific, of course. He absently scratched behind Germ's ear. Their tail thumped happily against his arm with a small rattle.

"Thank you so much Sybil, you're a life saver." He perched Germ on his shoulder for a moment so he could dig around in his bag. "I have some emergency instructions and contacts here just in case. The New Vegas Clinic is stocked up on anti-venom, which was a very fun conversation to have with Julie-- between her and Arcade's reaction, I'm not sure whether they would have preferred to never see me again or have me bring in some of Germ's venom for testing. Which! They're actually not quite old enough to be producing at full potency yet--"

"--I think I've got it handled, Sunil," Sybil interrupted his ramble. She confidently took Germ off of Sunil's shoulder and cradled the creature close to her chest. Germ just wagged their tail more, making the uncanny rattling noise even louder.

Sunil's mouth snapped shut. He opened it again, then paused before speaking. "You've got it handled."

"Yep!" Sybil practically sparkled. She patted his arm. "Anyways! Don't you have an expedition to go on?"

"I-- right! We'll be back in a day or so. It won't be too long, I promise."

"Well get going then! Your bodyguard seems itching to go." She pointedly looked past Sunil's shoulder, at the ragged ghoul who stood stiffly at the entrance to her offices. Between his rough features and the high-powered rifle on his back, he cut a striking figure. The ghoul raised two fingers to his brow in a lazy salute. Sybil winked and saluted back. "Kit, you will be sure to bring Sunil back, won't you?"

"Of course, Miss Cordova." Kit flashed her a wry half-smile. "I wouldn't dream of depriving you of his presence here at the '38."

Sybil ushered Sunil out of her offices with a gentle push and wishes for safe travels. Once he was gone, she put Germ on her shoulder, where they promptly curled around her neck and settled there like a furry (and slightly scaly) shawl. She admired her reflection in one of the windows, and tickled Germ under the chin. They flicked their tongue out sleepily in response.

* * *

Sybil leaned forward and intently looked at Marjorie, the head of the White Glove Society, who seemed unable to meet her gaze for some reason. Sybil just smiled, and propped her head up on her delicate, gloved hands.

That was the fun part about visiting the Ultra-Luxe, at least. It gave her an excuse to dress up even more than usual.

"I hope I'm not being too much of an imposition," Sybil said casually, carefully tucking a strand of her dark hair behind one ear. "I know we had a meeting scheduled later in the week, but something very urgent came up."

Marjorie's eyes flicked down to Sybil's neck, and then back up to her face. Sybil just smiled.

"Well, I'm always more than happy to assist in any way I can." Marjorie smiled back, but her eyes tightened almost imperceptibly.

The White Glove Society were a necessary evil, the Courier had said when they briefed Sybil on the ruling families of the Strip two years ago. The Courier had skimmed over some of the more sordid details, but Sybil was more than capable of filling in the blanks herself. From what she understood, the worst of the... unpleasantness... had been routed from among their ranks by some tricky maneuvering just prior to the second battle of the Hoover Dam. However, the Courier still didn't seem to trust them-- citing their business practices-- but they'd assured Sybil that Marjorie, at least, was still keeping the Society on a short leash.

Sybil had heard worse, and dealt with worse.

"I'm so happy you brought that up, Marjorie. I've always counted myself grateful to have your support and assistance. I am still relatively new to the Strip, so I've really appreciated everything you've done to help. Without you, people would still probably see me as just some silly NCR girl-- sticking her nose where it doesn't belong."

Marjorie's smile grew a little more strained, but she did not lose her composure. "Of course, Sybil. We here at the Ultra-Luxe are civilized, after all. It would make no sense for us to not work intimately with the Courier's interim replacement."

Sybil reached up to her collarbone and toyed with the tip of Germ's tail. Each segment of the tail was brightly polished, and the rattle itself curled around her neck like a string of pearls. Marjorie's smile wavered, and Sybil's grew wider. "Exactly! I'm so thankful that we have such a close working relationship. Which is why I think we really need to have a heart-to-heart about your food suppliers."

"Right," Marjorie said, all pretense and sweetness gone from her voice.

"Excellent. It's always so refreshing to be able to sit down and have a nice, civilized discussion." Sybil stroked Germ's nose, which was poking out from behind her dark curls. Germ yawned widely, displaying several rows of needle-sharp teeth. "Now, to get down to business. As a whole, the council voted on and agreed to move primarily to local suppliers as much as possible-- and the amount of importing you're doing is a bit of a detriment. New Vegas is ours, and I think we're all agreed in wanting to keep her that way. The more self-reliant we can be, the better."

Marjorie nodded. "The only issue is our reputation of exclusivity. We are known for being able to provide the finest in everything, and that includes NCR Brahmin. I'm afraid our newest chef is quite picky when it comes to his ingredients."

"I'm glad you brought that up!" Sybil produced a small notebook and leafed through it. "I was speaking with an... old-world friend of mine, and he had a few suggestions when it came to re-branding local flavour to be more desirable."

The two of them continued their negotiations. Sybil primly took a sip of her Gimlet, relishing the novelty of the citrus. It wouldn't do her any good to drink too much. She was a busy woman, after all; and she had a lot more business to attend to yet.

* * *

It was dark and well into the night of the next day by the time Sybil returned to the Lucky 38. The impeccable casino floor hummed with activity-- the smooth jazz punctuated by the clattering spin of the roulette tables, and the shuffling of cards. The atmosphere was inviting, and alluring. Just the way Sybil liked it.

She sauntered towards the reception, where Mason took her coat with the grace of a practiced host. "Thank you, Mason."

"Anytime, doll." He winked at her. "Oh and, by the way. A couple of your favourite tenants are gettin' a little antsy down by the bar. You might wanna swing by and see what all that's abo--" He cut himself off as Germ shimmered back into view. "I see," he said simply.

Sybil laughed. "Don't worry about it Mason. I'll take care of it."

She approached the bar, where Sunil had already stood up from his seat and abandoned his drink. Kit raised his glass to Sybil in greeting.

"Sybil! Is everything ok? Germ wasn't too much trouble?" Sunil reached out, and the Nightstalker pup jumped down into his arms.

"No trouble at all. In fact, I may have to borrow them again sometime."

Sunil gave her an inquiring look.

She kissed the top of Germ's scaly head, and they chirruped in return. "What can I say? Germ is a very, very accomplished negotiator."

* * *


End file.
